Rucksack 2014 a group exhibition featuring digital collage by Misty Sol

Exposed

In America, in open spaces I should feel completely free.  Instead I feel exposed and threatened.  Before I can know anyone they create me. I know that I am seen by "white" people that I cannot see.  Under the open sky, in a place where I recognize few faces, they clearly mark and identify me.

Self Conscious

There is an other-worldliness about "whiteness".  Colonization, segregation, integration, and gentrification all create unfamiliar landscapes where cultural signifiers are often unfamiliar, unpredictable, and sometimes threatening to us.  Identities are projected onto us, but we are not the invading, terraforming aliens, they are.

Exotic

In all "white" settings, I often experience a protracted lust for my skin and spirit.  "White" people tell me how dull and pale things were before I brought such color.  They even pull up their pant legs and complain about the impossible "whiteness" of their own skin.  In some instances they will try to pet me. My Blackness is not exotic entertainment.  More importantly, Blackness has it's own worlds, it's own diversity.